A certain amount of testing usually accompanies the production of many products in order to ensure that the desired quality and other properties of those products is maintained. For example, in the tobacco and food industries, the quality of the tobacco and food prepared for sale to customers is constantly monitored in order to ensure that the products meet the specifications of the company selling those products.
One way in which products are monitored is by taking samples of the end product or the components thereof and analyzing those samples in order to determine that they meet the company's desired specifications. Often, there are many batches of such samples to be tested. Therefore, the preparation of a large number of samples which will then be tested to analyze their properties often consumes a significant amount of employee hours. In fact, the preparation of the samples themselves can oftentimes require the expenditure of a significant amount of employee hours. Therefore, it would be advantageous if the number of employee hours devoted to the preparation of samples for testing and analysis could be reduced.
One way in which to reduce the number of employee hours devoted to sample preparation is to automate the sample preparation process. In addition, the automated sample processing system can be programmed to operate at such a time that all of the prepared samples are ready for use for the analysis and monitoring procedures at a predetermined time. For example, the sample preparation system of the present invention can be operated in the evening, so that, by the next morning, the desired number of prepared samples are ready for use in the analysis and monitoring of the product.